Bootleg #15 Numbers are in...

[Kris@WLP]

There's a poll in the Bootleg forum, for those who can read that. For those who can't, let's stick with the facts.

Diamond - 608 copies
Fantagraphics - 100 copies
Cold Cut - 25 copies
AAA News - 25 copies
Midtown Comics - 25 copies
TOTAL - 783 copies

That's down nearly a hundred copies from last time.

Put another way:

GROSS COSTS OF PRINTING (inc. shipping) - $3,100.00
WHOLESALE REVENUE EXPECTED - $2,803.14

Tomorrow I solicit Bootleg #16 for September, and three months from now #17 for December. If numbers don't go up, #17 (the Ranma 1/2 parody issue) will be the last of Bootleg as a stand-alone comic. If Diamond sales drop any lower, then those comics won't even be printed, not when current levels show a loss on printing of $300 BEFORE any artists are paid.

(Yes, artists do get paid now and then. I paid $50 to the cover artist for Bootleg #14 at ShiokazeCon, and I'm going to have to pay out a lot of royalties at A-Kon.)

At present WLP has cash assets of about $1300. At A-Kon, WLP will have to lay out about $400 to Mr. Shimokata, about $300 to Ben Dunn for royalties and renewal of Not Ninja High School, and several hundred bucks for printing of WLP's new NNHS releases. We're also looking to lay out $200 to commission cover art for one of WLP's upcoming games projects. Based on past years, A-Kon sales alone won't be enough to pay for Bootleg's printing.

I was hoping WLP would have credit card processing by now, but the service we thought had approved us revoked our account when it found the webcomics. That means donations- and we ARE asking again for donations- will have to come in the mail, by check.

What's the good news? Well, WLP has coped with an unexpected $800 fine from the state comptroller's office. We've retired a couple of the smaller credit card debts. A couple of payments have been made to artists. Most important, the backlog of orders has been reduced to orders for the Cream & Sugar collection, the Not Ninja High School collections, and subscriptions. Some progress has been made.

Unfortunately, we're still looking for some way of making WLP self-supporting without resorting to making WLP's webcomics pay-per-view. Bootleg was supposed to be the means of funding for those webcomics.

Your comments are welcome...

[ashfire32]

I sure hope it isn't. I have noticed the number of comic book or manga publishing companies that dropped their manga productions or had money problems like Iron Cat Studios and closed their doors.
I was enjoying a number of series or magazines and then they are gone.
But I would say White Lightning has what I want in Bootleg.

[Kris@WLP]

We're doing what we can, but we really need folks to order things and donate. Now especially, since our entire fall convention schedule is jeopardized unless we can get the Exploder's transmission replaced.